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Litterbugs are alive and well and hurling all manner of refuse out of their cars, particularly on Collier Boulevard between the Isles of Capri and the Jolley Bridge.

A team of Hideaway Beach residents know this only too well after adopting that section of the road and heading out with gloves and trash bags to pick up other people’s junk.

For one of the participants, Martha Ericson, the litter trail tells something of a story in itself.

Beer bottles and cans abound just before the Jolley Bridge, she says, suggesting that imbibers hurl the incriminating vessels out of their windows in case they’re stopped by law enforcement officers once within city limits.

On the volunteer group’s most recent clean-up, Ericson said besides cans and bottles, they mostly found smashed Styrofoam coolers, bits of tape, cigarette packs and fast food joint paper bags, just to name some.

That was in contrast to the previous time out, she said, when more exotic items such as condoms, an American Express card, some hotel room keys and some dollar bills emerged among all the rest of the trash.

Ericson said the decision by the group of Hideaway Beach residents to volunteer for the county-organized program — which reduces taxpayer road expenses throughout the county by about $250,000 a year — was mainly through civic concern, but indeed because “we don’t want people to think we’re a bunch of snobs.”

The county, she said, provides gloves, grabbers, poles, vests and trash bags.

She said her group of volunteers will likely head out to the road they’ve adopted about four times a year.

“We are quite excited to do this,” she said. “It makes you feel as if you’ve accomplished something.”

Ericson credited fellow resident Bill Dean for first volunteering the services of a group of Hideaway Beach residents, and more recently Wayne and Sandy Eldred for leading the Sept. 4 charge.

Since 1989, the Collier County Adopt-A-Road Program has grown in popularity with the number of sponsor groups doubling to about 90, according to county records.

Also, the records say: “The process of friendly persuasion such as ongoing litter prevention programs, the printing and distribution of brochures and posters, and the enforcement of the litter laws are certainly beneficial, but not enough to win the war on roadside litter.”

The program encourages local civic, community, neighborhood and business groups to adopt two-mile segments of roadways.

Groups are required to attend a meeting, organized by the sponsor, to review safety guidelines and procedures.

Contact erinhall@colliergov.net for further information on volunteering.